CMA blocks Activision deal over cloud competition

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority blocked Microsoft’s Activision acquisition on 26 April over cloud-gaming competition. Its revised console assessment stands.

Photo: efes, 2015. Original photograph via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0. Recompressed; responsive crops.

The regulator’s explanatory overview shows why the conclusions differ. Losing profitable PlayStation customers makes withholding Call of Duty unattractive. In cloud gaming, it expects independent Activision to supply games soon, and sees no comparable constraint on Microsoft withholding them.

The CMA estimates Microsoft’s UK cloud-gaming share at 60–70%, with Windows, cloud infrastructure and Xbox reinforcing its position.

Its rejection of Microsoft’s ten-year remedy also concerns business models: rival multigame subscriptions and non-Windows systems weren’t sufficiently covered. Fixed access terms could constrain how this emerging market develops.

Microsoft and Activision disputed the competition concerns. The CMA’s case depends on the competition it expects without the merger, rather than simply how many streaming agreements Microsoft offers.